Farming groups have urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to retain its current standards for dust, soot and other microscopic particles, arguing that tighter restrictions would be unworkable and that dust isn't a real pollutant.
Grain farmer Charles Schmitt, who farms about 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans near the southwestern Indiana town of Haubstadt, called the possibility of tougher rules on dust "ridiculous."
The 59-year-old, who's farmed for more than four decades, said there's little farmers can do to reduce dust, especially after a dry summer like this year's that left his fields parched.
"Mother Nature has more to do with it than we do — there's going to be dust and dirt no matter what," Schmitt said.
The EPA is reviewing its airborne pollutant standards, as required every five years under the Clean Air Act. It's looking both at its standards for tiny particles of industrial pollution, and slightly larger particles called "coarse particulate matter" that include dust.
Supporters of tougher restrictions said they're needed to help clear the air of tiny grains that can lodge deep in the lungs, worsening heart and respiratory problems.
But farming and livestock groups and some lawmakers call those risks overstated. They argue that tighter rules could hurt rural areas, which they fear might exceed new limits and be required to implement plans to reduce dust.
In July, nearly two dozen senators from farm states urged EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in a joint letter to keep in place the current particulate standards, approved in 2006.
Tougher standards, their letter warned, would result in "extremely burdensome" dust control measures to bring regions into compliance and "could slow economic development and impose significant cost to farmers and businesses."
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